Bacterial endosymbionts play essential roles in the biology of their arthropod hosts by interacting with internal factors in the host. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a worldwide agricultural pest and a supervector for more than 100 plant viruses. Like many other arthropods, Be. tabaci harbours a primary endosymbiont, Porteira aleyrodidarum, and an array of secondary endosymbionts that coexist with Portiera inside bacteriocyte cells. Unlike all of the other secondary symbionts that infect Be. tabaci, Rickettsia has been shown to be an exception by infecting insect organs and not colocalizing with Portiera, and has been shown to significantly impact the insect biology and its interactions with the environment. Little is known about the molecular interactions that underlie insect–symbiont interactions in general, and particularly Be. tabaci–Rickettsia interactions. Here we performed transcriptomic analysis and identified vitellogenin as an important protein that influences the levels of Rickettsia in Be. tabaci. Vitellogenin expression levels were lower in whole insects, but higher in midguts of Rickettsia‐infected insects. Immunocapture‐PCR assay showed interaction between vitellogenin and Rickettsia, whereas silencing of vitellogenin resulted in nearly complete disappearance of Rickettsia from midguts. Altogether, these results suggest that vitellogenin plays an important role in influencing the levels of Rickettsia in Be. tabaci.

中文翻译：

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烟粉虱烟粉虱中共生共生立克次体的水平受卵黄蛋白原表达的影响。

细菌共生菌通过与节肢动物宿主内部的相互作用，在节肢动物宿主的生物学中起着至关重要的作用。烟粉虱烟粉虱是一种世界性农业害虫，是100多种植物病毒的超级媒介。像其他许多节肢动物一样，Be。烟粉虱有一个初级内共生菌，Porteira aleyrodidarum，以及一系列与细菌细胞内的Portiera共存的次级内共生菌。与感染Be的所有其他次生共生菌不同。烟粉虱，立克次体被证明是一种例外，因为它感染昆虫器官而不与波氏菌共定位。并已被证明对昆虫生物学及其与环境的相互作用有重大影响。关于昆虫-共生体相互作用的分子相互作用，尤其是Be，人们所知甚少。烟–立克次体相互作用。在这里，我们进行转录组分析和识别的卵黄蛋白原作为影响水平的重要蛋白立克次体在争取。烟粉。卵黄蛋白原表达水平在整个昆虫中较低，但在立克次氏体感染的昆虫的中肠中较高。免疫捕获-PCR检测显示卵黄蛋白原与立克次体之间存在相互作用，而卵黄蛋白原沉默导致立克次体从中肠几乎完全消失。总之，这些结果表明，卵黄蛋白原在影响水平的重要作用，立克次氏体在争取。烟粉。